Personal Injury Law

Salmonella Injury Lawsuit Targets Tainted Egg Producers

By guest-writer

The legal consequences have begun to strike two major egg distributors after their tainted eggs caused hundreds of cases of salmonella poisoning across the country.

Iowa companies Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms are at the center of a major controversy after their egg recall led federal investigators to find ?widespread food safety problems? at their facilities, as reported by the New York Times.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, a woman in central Texas has filed one of the first personal injury lawsuits against the two offending companies whose actions resulted in a nationwide recall of more than 500 million eggs.

The woman, Amanda Sanchez, 34, was hospitalized for four days after contracting salmonella poisoning as a result of eating allegedly tainted eggs.

The plaintiff?s complaint says that she began to feel ill after eating eggs at a Taco Cabana restaurant. Shortly thereafter, she was admitted to the emergency room while experiencing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, and abdominal pain.

Sanchez had to stay in the hospital for four days and claims to have accrued roughly $25,000 in medical bills.

Testing on the offending eggs has not yet been completed, so it is still uncertain whether the eggs caused her illness. However, Sanchez?s lawyer says that she didn?t eat anything else that could have caused salmonella poisoning.

Sources indicate that more than 1,400 people have been affected by the salmonella outbreak since May. A Wisconsin woman has also filed a defective product lawsuit against the companies, and more are sure to follow.

A study conducted this week by the Food and Drug Administration revealed an unsettling lack of cleanliness and safety procedures at the Iowa eggs farms.

Specifically, investigators found barns infested with rodents, flies, maggots, and over-filled pits of manure at the egg-producing facilities. Officials also found traces of salmonella in test samples taken from Wright County Egg that matched the strains of affecting people across the country.

While salmonella was discovered in some of the facilities, FDA officials have not yet discovered how the bacteria was contracted by the hens.

The owner of Wright County Egg, Jack DeCoster, is described by some publications as having a long history of environmental and labor violations at previous egg operations. His son, Peter, is the chief operating officer of the business? interests in Iowa.

In response to the public concern generated by these findings, the FDA plans to inspect all of the roughly 600 major egg producers across the country during the next 15 months.

The FDA says that salmonella bacteria can be killed by pasteurization or by thoroughly cooking the infected eggs.

If you have contracted salmonella as a result of bad eggs, or have been the victim of other tainted food products, consider contacting a personal injury lawyer to learn more about your legal options.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on September 07, 2010 (boomark / email).